


Opportunity of a Lifetime

by surgeoninspace, vampgirltish



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Bank Robbery, FAHC, M/M, gta v - Freeform, pre-fake ah crew?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 12:04:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4136814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surgeoninspace/pseuds/surgeoninspace, https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampgirltish/pseuds/vampgirltish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan and Ray are used to petty robberies, gas stations and grocery stores, that sort of thing. When they're given the perfect opportunity to take it up a notch and rob a bank, Ray is eager to go for it while Ryan is more than hesitant. It'll take convincing, but Ray knows he'll be able to convince Ryan if he's got a good enough plan. And lot's of charm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hear Me Out

Ray threw himself down on the raggedy old couch in the living room, dropping the bag of cash him and Ryan had just earned on the coffee table. “Dude, we’re practically pros at this, that grocery store didn’t even see it coming!”

Ryan just shrugged, setting the things he had in his hands down, “I guess so, Ray. Don’t get too cocky though. It just takes one moment of being big-headed before you get shot in the back.”

“Okay, okay, I’m just saying. We’re pretty good at this.” Ray replied, stretching out on the stained up couch, resting his head on his folded arms.

“Whatever you say, Ray. We still need to be careful.” Ryan watched the younger with wary eyes. Ray had a look on his face like he was about to say something that Ryan wouldn’t like.

“Yeah, careful is cool and all, but it doesn’t pay the bills. The last go was great and all, but it’ll give us money for one, maybe two months max. What then, do we just keep on robbing grocery stores until we die?”

“That seems like the next best option, considering we can’t walk into some place for a part-time job as wanted criminals, Ray.”

“That’s not what I was trying to say, Ryan.” Ray mocked Ryan’s emphasis, “I’m trying to say that if we stepped up our game a little bit, we wouldn’t even need to get by robbing a shitty gas station or grocery store every month. I mean, do you really want to be living in this shitty apartment for the rest of your life?”

Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose, finally looking Ray in the eyes. “I’d rather live here than in jail.” His voice was filled with finality, showing Ray he was obviously done with the conversation at hand, but Ray pressed on.

“We’re both in agreement on that. But what if we were given the opportunity of a lifetime? What if we had time to plan out a master robbery down to the exact details?”

“If we were given this opportunity, I’d wonder how the hell it was possible, Ray! You can’t possibly account for every single possibility of this? What if you think, ‘Oh, they’ll send two choppers after us,’ and they send three? What do you do then?!” Ryan’s voice was raising in his irritation, though he didn’t want to yell at the younger man. He was upset that this conversation continued even despite his want for it not to. He wasn’t exactly thrilled with living the way they were, but at least robbing grocery stores and gas stations kept Ray safe.

Ray gave him the look. The one where he raised his eyebrow and gave Ryan a half smile, the one that read, ‘Come on, just hear me out.’ “Ryan, this is what planning is for. Okay, so I haven’t completely come up with the details, that’s why I wanted to go over it with you man! I’m just saying, you and I have been presented with a once in a lifetime chance to get filthy fucking rich. Are you really going to turn that down without even listening to what we have to work with?”

“You keep saying we have this opportunity, but I don’t know where you’re getting it, Ray! I don’t care how much you plan, there’s always something that can go wrong!” Ryan sighed out, trying to calm himself down. “I don’t know...w-what you’ve thought of for this, but...I...I don’t want something to happen to either of us that we can’t just sew back up with some stitches, or re-set with a makeshift splint.”

Ray sat up, “Well, my dear Ryan, if you’d just hear me out, we could start working on a plan. I’m not saying you have to go along with it, but at least just be a bit more open-minded about it.”

Ryan walked closer, shrugging half-heartedly, “Fine. I’ll hear you out. If anything, just to humor you. We’re probably not going to do it, though. Keep that in mind.”

A devilish smirk grew on Ray’s face, “Geoff Ramsey. You remember him? Old college friend. Dude’s a professional criminal. We got back in touch not too long ago. One of his boys works at this bank, absolutely hates it. They demoted him, like, twice now. He’s ready to quit and go and work for Geoff full time. He’s got quality information, Ryan. He can supply us with blueprints, work schedules, and employee profiles. The vault's electronic locks will be down at the time due to renovation and they'll be two armed guards at the door instead. And the alarm system is offline during the repairs. Not only that, but the bank cut staff while doing physical construction on some board rooms upstairs. When the construction workers are on break the place will be almost barren.” He continued before Ryan could cut him off, “Look, I know it’s risky, but this really is the opportunity of a lifetime. They keep millions on them. MILLIONS. You know what we could do with that kind of money?”

“We could do a lot of things with that kind of money...,” Ryan trailed off, caught in this fantasy Ray had. But it was just that, a fantasy. “But..fuck! Ray. We can’t do this. We could literally die doing this. This is a giant leap from gas stations. It’s not like we were robbing anything close to a fucking bank before this!”

“We could die from doing a lot of things, Ryan. You could die right now from a heart attack. And hey, c'mon. Can't we at least PLAN it? We're both intelligent and skilled. I really think we have a shot at this.” Ray continued to push, knowing if he begged enough Ryan would eventually give in.

Ryan was quiet for a moment, mulling over the idea. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and they could get so much cash from this...but there was still a question in his mind about this Geoff guy. Sure, he was probably trustworthy if Ray trusted him, but Ryan didn’t want to be scammed out of money. He’d remembered Geoff from some odd heists that he’d been asked to do, but politely declined. He and Ray worked alone...before this. “Can we trust this Geoff character?”

“Oh yeah.” Ray spoke without hesitation, “He’s definitely good for it. I could mull over the details of our past but it’s best to just leave it at that.”

Ryan pursed his lips, hand on his jaw in thought. Did he go for this? Did he risk not only his life, but one of his only friends’ life in this risky heist? He closed his eyes for a moment, not wanting to see Ray’s face as he said, “Okay.”

“Yes!” Ray put both of his hands in the air victoriously, falling back on the couch, “Oh thank you, Ryan! I could kiss you right now. Oh! I’ll text Geoff and tell him we’re in.” The eager man pulled out his phone and began pressing at the keys, “This is gonna be great!”

“Whatever you say, Ray,” Ryan said quietly. He thought over what he’d just agreed to, and tried desperately to not think about the worst of everything. Then again, he’d always been that way. Being in countless relationships with optimists caused him to be the pessimist, and his friendship with his roommate Ray was no different. Ray had his moments of pessimism, but he was definitely the optimist between them.

“I promise Ryan, we’ll come up with a good plan. We’ve got plenty of time to figure it all out, count our variables and stuff. We’ll walk out of that bank rich and unscathed.” Ray looked away from his phone to smile eagerly at Ryan.

“I’m trusting you,” Ryan said, his voice stern. “I don’t want you to let me down, Ray.”

“I won’t!” Ray reassured him, his leg now bouncing up and down. “We’ll be loaded, Ryan! We could move out of here, we could buy anything!” Ray’s phone buzzed, and he sat up once again, recomposing himself, “Okay, okay. Information. He said he could give it to us tonight. I’m so pumped.

Ryan nodded, “Yeah, yeah. You take care of that. I’m just gonna go to sleep, tired as fuck.” He half-assed a response, but he could say he was tired. He just wanted to get away from Ray and this crazy plan for the time being. Maybe he’d wake up and find it was all just a dream.

“Sure thing, Ryan.” Ray grinned up at him before turning his attention back to his phone, “Good night!”

 


	2. Twenty Cups of Coffee and a Fake Bathroom Break

The next morning, Ryan woke up to Ray clattering around the kitchen. This wasn’t abnormal, but rather like his routine alarm clock. Too bad Ray didn’t have a snooze button. With a yawn, Ryan rubbed his face and pulled down the hem of his shirt where it had ridden up with sleep. Ryan walked into the kitchen, jelly-legged and slightly dazed from just waking up, “What’s happenin’, Ray?” Ray’s face lit up with laughter. “What? What’s so funny?”

“You should see your fucking hair, dude,” was all Ray said before going back to whatever task he was doing. Ryan looked in the mirror and saw that his hair was sticking up in every possible direction. He carded his hands through it and sighed, “Eh, it’ll be fine. What are you up to?”

Ray readjusted his glasses, smoothing down the same shirt he had been wearing yesterday, “I’m making coffee. Want some?” 

“Mmmm, yeah. Coffee sounds great,” Ryan responded lazily, walking up next to Ray. “Seems like you didn’t even sleep, since you’re wearing the same shirt.”

“What?” Ray looked down at himself, “What time is it anyway?” He asked himself, looking at the clock on the oven. 8:03. “Oh, I guess I didn’t sleep. You know what, that explains the urges to chug more coffee.” He looked down at the mug in his hand, “I’ve had, like, 20 cups.”

“For some reason, I feel like that’s not healthy, Ray,” Ryan said softly, grabbing the cup that Ray had poured for him. “So, what kept you up all night?” He turned to the fridge to get the cream out of it for his coffee.

Ray shrugged, “I’m sure I’ll be fine. And I just couldn’t sleep, it’s not like I don’t do that normally,” He was quick to change the subject, “but that’s besides the point. I have all the information we need.”

Ryan sighed, admonishing the younger man, “You need to get your sleep, especially if we’re doing a heist this big.” He poured cream into his coffee, put the cream back in the fridge, and stirred it carefully. “What kind of information did you get?”

“Psh, whatever.” Ray paused to pour a fresh cup of coffee, “And I've got the blueprints for the bank and vault, a list of electronics they use, a list of what's in the vault, work schedules, profiles of all the employees, and copies of keys.” He proceeded to pour a large amount of sugar into the mug before mixing it with a spoon, “I did some of my own research as well along with the stuff Geoff gave me, y’know, to really cover my bases.”

Ryan looked fondly at the man adding so much sugar to his coffee, before speaking, “Yeah, I think its good you searched it up...made sure it was all valid and shit. You already said you had a basic plan for what we were going to do, you just needed to iron out details, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I need you to listen to it, tell me what I’m missing. You’re good at that.” Ray shrugged again, taking a chug of his coffee. 

“Alright,” Ryan said, leading the way to the living room, hands wrapped around the mug of coffee for warmth. “Lay it on me, Ray.”

Ray placed himself on the couch, and started presenting all of the pieces of information on him. “We pretty much know everything, the only things we don’t know the security codes on the vaults, the store rooms, where the employees will be, how they'll react- but even though, we’re pretty well set.” He cleared his throat, “So, the security codes- during the renovations, the security will be less secure. Okay, normally there's a code the branch manager has to get into the vault... and that's one of two. The second comes from the state company manager.. any requests to open the vault need to be directed via phone to him in order to get the second code. Because the renovations are coming from the state company side, this second code will be down during the time of renovation for about fifteen minutes that day.” He stopped to make sure Ryan was still following along, “Meaning that a single manager code, in the memory of the person who we will have at gunpoint, will be enough to get into the vault. So during those fifteen minutes, we can get in without anyone outside the bank knowing.” Ray paused once again, “Are you getting all of this?”

Ryan nodded slowly, “Uh-huh. I think I’m following.” Truth be told, Ray may have been obsessing over this, having thought out all these details, but Ryan would rather he had obsessed and thought of everything than the other way around.

“Alright, good.” Ray slid the blueprint of the bank towards Ryan, “This is the middle floor, the only one we’ll really need to be worrying about. The whole building is three floors, the basement is the antiques vault and the top is just board room and offices.” Ray took a sip of his coffee.

Ryan watched Ray pointing the details, nodding and drinking his coffee. “Right, right. Are we going to need to get anything from the other levels, or is it just the middle floor?”

“We don’t need anything, but since you’re so caught up on being careful, I would suggest one of us doing a sweep of those two floors to make sure no one’s going to catch us.” Ray finished his cup, setting it on the table. “No meetings are scheduled so the top floor should be clear. The bottom floor is almost always clear, too. But I’ve decided that if we didn’t check those floors and we got caught you wouldn’t let me live it down ever. I’d wouldn’t hear the end of it.”

“Or you would hear the end of it, because we’d both be shot to death,” Ryan deadpans, taking another sip of his coffee.

“Right.” Ray glanced at Ryan, before looking back at the papers strewn across the table. “So, this fifteen minute period we'll have is on July 3rd between 1:15 and 1:30pm. This IS during the business hours of the bank, of course.. so we will have some customers and guests there during the time. The middle floor will be occupied by the branch manager along with three tellers,” He passed the employee profiles to Ryan, “these are them. There will be two armed guards assigned to in front of the vault and a security officer in charge of watching the entrance. Max staff will be around ten to thirteen people, a mixture of security and bankers. We have a fifteen minute window to get into the bank, but you know the rule with robberies, if you spend more than a minute or two in the bank, you're going to get caught. Mission plan: get in and out as quick as possible. We won't grab all the money but we'll grab a lot.” He sighed, realizing how much of a breathful that was, “How does this sound so far are you still following?”

Ryan rubbed his jaw with his free hand, a habit he did while thinking. “I think I’m following. How are we gonna take care of all of the people in there? I’m assuming we’re gonna avoid killing customers if at all possible, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, first lets talk entrance. No- no- let’s talk about before entrance. First, we'll park away from the bank. I’m going to go in first, we act like we don’t know each other. There’s a college not to far from here, so I’ll pose as a college kid, we can put supplies in my bookbag and have something to put the money into. I’m thinking you with a briefcase, and you’ll need to dress in a suit.” He cleared his throat once again, “Y’know- to go along with the briefcase. Okay, so, I go in first. You go in about thirty seconds behind me, I’ll be waiting in line. The panic button is under the second teller’s desk. So, I go up to that teller, catch them when their hands are above their desk, and with a signature and charming Ray Narvaez Jr. smile, as to not alert the other tellers, I tell them I have a gun and if they don’t step away from the desk calmly, I’ll shoot them. After that, I tell the other’s to step away too. At that moment, you take care of the one security officer taking care of the door. That’s the only officer with a view of the lobby. I need you to knock him out or at least immobilize him. I’m thinking taser. The two guards outside of the vault don't have any direct view of the lobby since it's blocked by the assistant manager's office so we'll have just a couple of crucial seconds before after one of the screaming customers alarms them. In those few seconds, you disarm the officer and you get the crowd of people on their knees with their hands in the air.”

“Will we actually be able to disarm and control the crowd in that amount of time?” Ryan asked. “Or rather, will I be able to do those things? I don’t know if I can manage both at the same time.” Ryan did have confidence in himself, but, with the plan being as large-scale as it was, he didn’t want to be the cause of them fucking up, especially so early on.

“Yes, because by then I’ll have the tellers in the mix of customers. And those guys will do anything with not one but two guns pointed at them from two different directions. Now, once they realize that we’re robbing them, they’re going to start screaming, which will draw in the two guards. You grab a hostage and tell them you'll shoot if the guards even try to call for help. Use who you grab to get the officers to also disarm and get on their knees.” Ray looked at Ryan, trying to decipher what he was thinking, “Are you still following?

“Okay, I think I’m with you. It’s making sense so far. I’ll probably need the final one on paper though so I can read it over and memorize it better, but, that’s for the future. Go on.”

“Okay, that can be arranged. Once they’re all rounded up we put ‘em in the employee lounge, and then we tie their wrists and ankles with zip ties, which will be in my backpack. Oh yeah, my backpack will also have a cell phone jammer, so if one of them does come undone they won’t have any signal. I already got Geoff to order one, he sends all of his suspicious buyings to some random building he’s got rented out, anyway, we grab the bank manager, get her to tell us the code. Put a gun to her head, blah blah blah. Once we open the vault, we’ve got three minutes before the state manager is alerted.” Ray looked back at Ryan, “This still making sense?”

"As much sense as it can make while being in a draft phase,” Ryan said. “You’re sure we can pull this off?”

“Nothing's for certain. But, I’d say the odds are in our favor.” Ray yawned as he continued, “Anyway, we only have one last step to cover. The escape.” 

“Alright, alright, go for it. What’s our grand escape, Ray?”

Ray cracked his knuckles before pointing to the blueprints, “I say we either climb through the drive through window, or through the door in the mechanical room. I'd say our first option would be the drive through, but if there's cars there for whatever reason, we do the mech. room door. We don’t go by car. We left the car parked far enough away from the building, it won’t be suspicious. We can’t go straight home either, I’m assuming the cops will be on us immediately. There’s a double sided alley way three blocks away, we go there, change clothes, stash the cash, and find somewhere to lay low. And by law low, I mean the noisiest club around, where the  
lights are too dim and the place is too crowded. We’ll wear night club clothes under the one’s we’re wearing for an easy change. No one will even recognize us, and if the cops happen to follow us, it’ll be harder to find us in a busy club. So, we dance until the coast is clear, go back to the alley, grab our shit, and we’re home free.” 

“Right, okay,” Ryan nods, thinking for a moment. “What’s to say the cops don’t search everyone at the club if they follow us to the club?”

“Then we bail. There’s multiple exits, including a fire escape on all three floors. That’s even if they follow us there. Oh and um,” Ray cleared his throat and looked away, “it’s a uh- it’s an all male nightclub too, so- uh, it’ll be harder to find us if they’ll searching for two guys.”

Ryan swallowed his coffee. Hard. So it was an all male club. That could get interesting. “....Okay. You seem like you’ve, uh, gotten it all pretty water-tight as far as this plan goes.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I made sure to try and think this through as much as possible.” 

“Good. I don’t want something to happen to either of us.”

“We’re in agreeance on that.” He directed his gaze back to Ryan, “So, what do you think? About the plan, I mean.”

“As I said, I still am fucking terrified something’s going to go wrong, but other than that, I think your plan is well thought out. Did you do this all on your own?” Ryan was curious if Ray had help or not; it seemed like a lot for the younger to think about.

Ray nodded, happy with the approval the older man was giving to him, “Yeah, I did. I’m sure there’s still holes we have to cover, though. Did you catch any?”

“Not really,” Ryan said with a shrug. “Other than the questions I asked, I think it’s pretty good. I could’ve missed something. I do have one more question for you, though.”

Pretty good. Ryan thinks it’s pretty good. This is so much more than how Ray expected him to react, so much better. He doesn’t need to hide the smile that creeps up on his face, because he involuntarily yawned once again, “What’s that?”

“Is Geoff’s crew going to be involved in this? I don’t know how well that’ll work out for us, considering we’d have to split the cash, and you and I always heist alone.”

“No. This is a two person job. The only reason Geoff offered was because he’s too busy with bigger shit, and one of his boys really insisted on getting revenge on the stupid place. He doesn’t want anything to do with the money that comes out of it. He just wants his guy to shut up about it.”

“Mmm, okay. Good. I don’t think I’d work well with more than just you. You know I don’t play well with others,” he said, nodding and standing. “I’m getting more coffee. You want some, or are you finished after forty cups?”

Ray looked at him through droopy eyelids, “Yeah, that’d be- that’d be great. Thanks”

“Sure,” Ryan said, a smile on his face as he took the cup from Ray. He poured them both a new cup, pouring cream into his and adding the right amount of sugar into Ray’s. Carefully, he walked them both back, handing Ray his, “Here you go.”

Ray accepted it with a wide smile, “Thanks!” taking a sip. He groaned internally when the hot beverage fogged up his glasses, setting down the cup to wipe them on his shirt.

Ryan couldn’t stop himself from laughing at Ray’s glasses fogging up, and smiled at him. Between the two, there was an odd amount of smiling considering they were planning to rob a bank.

“What are you laughing at, Haywood?” Ray grinned, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He blinked as his eyes readjusted.

“Just laughing at the loser who’s occupying my living room, that’s all,” Ryan teased.

“Loser?” Ray yawned again, “Who do ya think you’re callin’ a loser, loser?” 

“Who are you calling a loser, loser?” Ryan laughed, sipping his coffee and smiling at Ray, a twinkle in his eye.

Ray put the mug back up to his lips, mumbling into the glass, “I’m calling you a loser. Loser.”

“I heard that. You’re the loser, here. Loser.” 

“Whatever.” Ray squinted, a thought popping up into his mind, “We need to make sure to secure the entrance. We need to. To make sure no one walks in. We should probably check to make sure the drive-in is cleared too. We can’t have someone pulling up and catching us.” He quickly searched for solutions, “Okay, we lock the doors once the heist starts, and we put a piece of paper in the window that says closed. Simple enough.” He took a sip of his coffee, mentally adding paper to the materials checklist.

Ryan nods, “That’s good, Ray. I didn’t even think of that. Clever.” Ryan was proud of the younger for thinking of that, considering he was supposed to be the fail-safe of their plan. Ray never ceased to surprise him, that was for sure.

Ray felt warm. Not from the coffee, but from Ryan’s words of approval. The word ‘Clever’ bounced around in his brain for a bit before he smiled to himself. “Thanks,” he uttered sheepishly.

“You betcha,” Ryan said, stretching. “What’s on the agenda today?”

“I don’t know. Usually that’s your job.” Ray shrugged, feeling hazy.

Ryan sighed out, “I thought maybe you’d wanna choose today, since I do it so much.” That, and Ryan is always curious what Ray picks on days like these, lazy days where they had no time constraint before a heist.

Ray rubbed his eyes, pushing up his glasses as he did so. He gestured to the small television directly across from the couch. “We could marathon Friends until 3 in the morning.”

“If we do that, I insist we order in Chinese food too. Just for the hell of it,” Ryan said. 

“Mm. I’m not that hungry, but you do your thing.” Ray never ate much, especially when a heist was being put on his plate. 

“But Ray,” Ryan drawled, “it’s Chinese food! You love that! You’ve said before that it’s like crack!”

“You could just order me some and put it in the fridge. I’ll eat it later or something.” Ray shrugged nonchalantly, another yawn creeping up on him. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate. Yesterday morning maybe? 

Ryan seemed to read his mind, “You probably need to eat. I don’t think you’ve eaten in awhile.”

Ray tried to reassure him. “Nah, I’m good.” 

“I don’t want you to get sick, Ray,” Ryan said. “You get sick easily.”

“I don’t think not eating has anything to do with me getting sick. I’ll just eat later. No big deal.”

“If you aren’t eating properly, then your immune system gets weaker,” Ryan states.

“Ugh, my immune system’s fine. Seriously, don’t worry about it.” Ray chugged down the last bit of his coffee, setting the mug back down.

“You can’t just live off caffeinated beverages and air, Ray.”

“Watch me.” Ray spoke flatly, resting his head on his fist.

Ryan frowned, but dropped the subject. “Fine, fine.”

Ray perked his head up, “Hey, if you want, sometime this week we could go stop by the bank, scope out the place, maybe see where we want to park and what paths we could take to get from the bank to an alley to the club.” 

“Sure, yeah. I think that’ll be good. Plus we can see if our blueprints match the actual scheme of the place.”

“Oh yeah. But we should probably have something to do when we get there so we don’t look like a couple of weirdos inspecting a bank.”

“Yeah. You got any ideas?” Ryan was fresh out of ideas at this point.

“Not really, it’s not like I have a bank account or anything.” Ray took a deep breath, trying to pull up any solutions, “We could just trust the blueprints. And if they’re wrong, then we just take fifteen seconds to establish where everything is.”

Ryan was quiet, “Same here. I terminated my bank account when we started heisting. Maybe one of us could enquire about opening an account, y’know. Not actually to get one, but just to stall so the other can scope it out, huh?”

“That might work.” Ray ran a hand through his hair, “Yeah that’ll do.”

“Alright. Who’s gonna enquire and who’s going to scope out?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know, but it still might be a bit strange having someone just looking around a bank.” 

“The other can pretend to look for the bathroom. Don’t worry. Sometimes just acting non-conspicuous works out just fine.” Ryan offered a reassuring smile, “Does that help?”

Ray hummed, “Works for me.” 

“Alrighty. We’re gonna have to decide who does which part at some point, Ray.”

Ray shrugged, “Y’know, really, we could just have one of us go in and ask if there’s a bathroom. We really don’t need to make it complicated.” 

“Well, I suppose that does make it easier, but will we have enough time? We don’t want to rush. You always say I’m a stickler for being careful, and this is no exception.”

“I mean, it’ll only take me a couple seconds to tell if the blueprints are right. The whole middle floor is sort of just one open room with a different room on each corner.” Ray looked at Ryan intently.

Ryan shrugged, “You know better than me. I guess you’ll go in, then?”

Ray copied Ryan’s motion. “I don’t mind.” 

“Alright. Then you can go. I’ll drive us, and wait outside while you go, huh?” 

“Sounds like a plan. When you wanna do this?”

“Whenever you think is best is fine by me.”

“We could do it right now.” Ray yawned once more, covering up his mouth with his hand.

“Alright,” Ryan shrugged, walking to go get his keys. “You ready?” he called through the apartment.

“Mhm,” Ray hummed, standing to his feet. He wobbled for a second before moving towards Ryan and the door. 

Ryan leads the two to their car, and walks around to the driver’s side. After buckling in, he turned to Ray, “Directions?”

Ray yawned again, fumbling with his seatbelt, “You probably know where it is- it’s near downtown, it’s on the corner of 36th and Acehoven.” 

“Oh! Yeah, I can find that.” Ryan allowed Ray to take care of the radio as they drove, silent. Once they showed up, “We’re here.”

Ray had his head propped up against the window, he’d started to doze off a bit, the lack of sleep catching up with him, “Wha- huh? Oh, we’re here.” He rubbed his tired eyes, “Alright Ryan, gimme five minutes.”

“Sure,” Ryan said, pulling the car around the corner and rolling the window down a quarter, letting air into the car.

Ray looked up at the big building and exhaled deeply. He coaxed himself to act natural as he stepped up the stairs and to the entrance. As he grabbed the handle to the door of the bank, he took another deep breath, mapping out what the building should look like in his head. Swinging the door open, he felt a gush of cool air as he stepped in. Looking around casually, he compared the information the blueprint gave him. Across from the entrance was the drive-thru, and in front of that was the line of tellers. To the left of them, the assistant manager’s room sat. The vault should be behind there. On the opposite side was the employee’s lounge. That’s where they’d put the hostages, Ray thought. To the left of Ray, there was two rooms, which he could only assume was the mechanical room and the manager’s office.

Everything seemed to follow the blueprint.

Ray glanced over to the security officer that was guarding the front entrance who was seemingly staring off into space. Ray attempted to swallow a lump in his throat, but to no avail. 

He looked ahead, there were two tellers on duty. One was attending to a customer and the other was working on something. Ray cautiously approached the her and she looked up with a kind smile, “What can I do for you?”

“I-uh, I was wondering if you had a bathroom I could use?” He stuttered out, his voice cracking. 

“Sure thing!” She pointed to the employee lounge with the pen she held in her hand, “Just go through there and take a left all the way to the back.”

“Thanks.” He muttered, following her directions. He had already known where they were.

As he stepped into the lounge he could see the door leading to the records room, as the blueprint told him it was. He shut the door behind him when he set foot in the bathroom. He didn’t actually have to go, so he just sat on the lid of the toilet seat trying to calm his nerves for an appropriate amount of time before leaving. He flushed the toilet and washed his hands as well, just in case.

On his way out, he thanked the teller once more and didn’t waste a second getting out of there. 

His heart was still beating fast when he opened Ryan’s car door and threw himself in, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Ryan was pretty much his safe haven. “Yep. The bank looks exactly like the blueprints.” 

Ryan looked over at him, jolted from his silence into the noise of Ray clambering into the vehicle, “Oh! That’s uh,” he cleared his throat, “that’s good. I’m glad that it looks right.” He looked at Ray, flushed and nervous, “You sure you want to go through with this? You look like you’re about to pass out and we’ve barely even scraped the surface of looking through this bank. Next time we’re here, we’re going to be robbing it. You know that.”

“Of course I still want to go through with this. I am not letting this opportunity slip through my fingers.” Ray reached back to grab the seat belt, shifting as he dragged it across his chest before buckling in. “Like you said, it’s just different. It’s a bank, with enough security trusted enough to protect millions of dollars. I’m just a little nervous, it’s okay.”

Ryan nodded and placed a hand on Ray’s knee for a moment, aiming to be reassuring, “It’s okay, Ray. You know I won’t let you go out like that. I’ll defend you.” He paused. “Then again, you don’t need much defending. You’re the best shot I’ve ever met.” With the realization that his hand was there likely longer than it should have been, he pulled away his hand from Ray’s knee.

Through his rattled nerves, his heart fluttered. His mind was still a bit fogged, but he still held onto the compliments Ryan had awarded him with, and through it all, I’ll defend you, was being repeated over and over again like a broken record in his mind. He took a deep breath, staring at the hand Ryan had just had on his leg. Ray secretly wished it would have stayed. Seconds past before Ray realized he still hadn’t said anything, he gave a delayed nod, “Thank you.”

Ryan nodded, “Sure, no problem.” After a pause, he said, “I guess we’re going back home then? Unless you want me to swing by the Chinese place and grab something for us--er, for me to eat?”

“We can do that.” Ray tapped his idly on the center console, “Should we check out the routes from here to the club?”

“If you want. Depending on what the route is, we might be able to pick up the food on the way.”

“We should probably pick a couple different routes, just in case we run into an obstacle. More specifically, cops.” Ray paused before continuing, “I checked a map. The club is 0.6 miles away from the bank, and there’s several different ways to go. Our first option should be alleys, and they first chance we get when we’re out of sight is when we change.”

“Right, right,” he said. “You give me directions, I’ll do the driving. Of course, I don’t think I can drive in alleys, however skilled at driving I am,” he trailed off, then mumbled, “or not skilled, I suppose.”

“I have the map at home, we should probably just go to the place so you know where it is. I can point out the alley ways to go down when I can show you the map.” He hummed, “Turn down 38th, make a left on Bell Street and then keep driving. It’ll be on the left.” He wondered if Ryan would notice how well he had the directions memorized. 

And Ryan did notice, “Looks like someone’s been up late brushing up on the Los Santos geography, huh?” He followed Ray’s directions, not saying anything else after that.

Ray swallowed nervously, “Yeah.” That was definitely not the reason he knew where this club was located. 

The two continued on, Ryan making the appropriate turns and Ray sitting quietly next to him.

“Alright,” he started, pointing out the window to the nearly all black building. The name of the building was printed in thin letters on the top of the entrance, Scandals. “that’s it right there.”

Ryan squinted at it, “Yeah, I see it. Are we gonna go in and scope inside or just the outside?” Ryan wasn’t trying to suggest anything by it, at least, he didn’t think he was. Was he? He shook his head to clear his thoughts and waited for Ray’s response, hoping that Ray wouldn’t take it that way.

Ray shrugged, “I don’t see why we need to. I already know where the exits are.” He froze, praying Ryan didn’t pick up on that. 

Ryan caught Ray’s eyes for a second, and tension fell between them before he averted his eyes back to the road. He just said, “Okay, then I’m gonna go ahead and go to the Chinese place. We can pick it up and head back home, okay? Then we can talk about your routes.”

“Yeah, no that sounds great.” Ray was mentally hitting himself. Wow, I’m an idiot. He decided to just shut his mouth for the rest of the ride, hoping that maybe that would stop his big mouth from furthering his embarrassment. 

Ryan drove up to the Chinese place in the silence, and said, “I’m gonna go order and bring it out. I’ll be right back, okay?” The time that he remained in the building gave Ray time to think.

“Sure.” Ray mumbled, trying to recollect his dignity. I really shouldn’t be ashamed, right? He avoided looking at Ryan as he got out of the car. As soon as Ryan was out earshot, he groaned to himself and put his face in his hands. 

Ryan led the two inside, allowing Ray to go in first before shutting the door. He set the Chinese food on the table in the living room, “Alright. What’s first?” He began pulling things out as Ray began his plan.

Ray cleared his throat, grabbing the map and placing it in front of them as he began to point at it, “Okay, so here’s the bank, and here’s the club. I traced some potential routes for us to follow, but the main one is this one,” He ran his finger along the only path outlined in a different color. “It’ll take us longer to get there, but this is the only path where we get the most shield from the main roads.” He shifted his gaze to Ryan, looking for his validation.

Ryan nodded, encouraging, “Yeah, that seems like the best bet. Though I know you have other routes planned, ‘cause you said you did.”

“Yeah, just in case one of our paths are blocked or the police are really on our tails.” He traced along each of the other paths, explaining the layout of the streets and what they would look like in real life. “Sound good?” He asked Ryan as he wrapped up.

“Mhm, that sounds fine.” Ryan eats a little of his food, mulling it over as he chewed, “You should eat something.”

Ray shrugged once again. “Not that hungry.” 

Ryan sighed out, “I’d admonish you and say you need to eat, but I know you aren’t going to listen to me.” His voice came out sarcastic, though he didn’t mean for it to. He didn’t want Ray to know he was angry with him.

Ray went to change the subject, “So, back to the plan, how are we doing so far?”

“I think we’re doing alright as far as the plan goes,” Ryan said. He wanted to point out that Ray was avoiding being told off, but decided it was better to just leave it alone.

“Alright, so, I say tomorrow we go shopping for materials.” Ray paused to pick up a sticky note with a list on it and held it in front of him. “Backpack, suit, club clothing, ‘closed’ sign, guns, ammo, taser, zip ties, and a cell phone jammer. We already have the backpack, brief case, and guns, I went ahead and already made a ‘closed’ sign, and the scrambler is already on the way. So, how about a shopping spree?”

Ryan shoved a bit more food in his mouth, swallowing. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Nice. I think we’ve got most of it covered, so I’m going to go crash for a little.” He reached under his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes before he began to saunter to his bedroom, “G’night!” He yelled, even though it was only a little into the afternoon. 

Ryan muttered, “That’s what he gets for staying up the whole night.” He finished off the container of food he was eating, piling the rest into the fridge and grabbing a cookie from the cabinet. He plopped on the couch and flipped on the TV.

Ray knew that even if he fell asleep, he wouldn’t be asleep for long. When he reached his room, he changed into some more relaxed clothes and laid in bed anyway. He decided that even if he couldn’t crash at least he would of known he made an effort. 

For the first two hours, he stared at the ceiling, raking over the details of the plan. Going over possible scenarios in his head. Working in different variables and replaying it over and over. 

There was one outcome that made Ray’s blood run cold. 

 After getting the guard from the entrance on the ground, the two security officers from the vault come rushing in. Ryan grabs a hostage, a woman, probably crying and screaming for help, he holds her close, using her body as a shield, “Drop your weapons or she gets shot! Get on the ground, now!” One security officer, who fears for the safety of this woman, drops to the ground immediately, the other doesn’t move. Ryan repeats the phrase, shaking the woman for emphasis, without really hurting her. The remaining guard hesitates before deciding that he can be the hero of this shitty situation, even if it means he dies trying. He carefully pulls the gun out of his holster and acts as if he’s tossing it away, but at the last second draws it up, aiming it right at Ryan’s head and pulling the trigger. 

The imagine left a sour taste in Ray’s mouth. He didn’t want to think about it, but he needed to. He had to think about it to ensure it didn’t happen.

He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he got Ryan killed. This was all of his idea. It would be all of Ray’s fault, he decided. Ryan didn’t even want to go along with this plan, but Ray sort of forced him into it. 

He decided to push the thought of Ryan dying far away, he could worry about it later. 

For the next few hours, he tried to coax himself to sleep. He did actually end up slipping into unconsciousness for about an hour, which wasn’t half bad considering Ray’s normal sleeping schedule.


	3. Shopping Spree

After he awoke, he climbed out of bed and wandering back out into the living room, where he found Ryan on the couch. 

Ryan was passed out asleep on the couch, half of a cookie held limply in his hands. Ryan had clearly been nibbling on them, the box of Oreos sitting on the coffee table in front of him. His body had partially fallen off the couch, his jacket in between on and off through the movements of sleep. Ryan’s mouth was held in a straight line, though his face was peaceful and didn’t have the hard lines that had started when Ray and he had first started robbing grocery stores. 

Ray stopped and looked him over for a second. As he watched Ryan's chest rise and fall, he debated whether or not to wake him up. It couldn't have been very comfortable lying half way off of a couch, but eventually let it go, if he could fall asleep in that position than he should be fine. 

Ray wandered into the kitchen and got himself a glass of water before retreating back into his room to not disturb Ryan.

Ryan only sniffled in his sleep before rolling over a little bit, the cookie falling from his hands and getting crumbs on the floor. Ryan wasn’t dreaming of anything, but for some reason he found himself jolting awake with a start around fifteen minutes after Ray had re-entered his room. Ryan looked around, confused for a moment in his bleary-eyed, just-woken-up state, but settled when he realized he was at home. He got up slowly, stretched, rubbed his eyes, and walked over to Ray’s door. “Time to get up! We’ve got shit to do.” To his surprise, Ray opened the door immediately after he said this, and he was nose-to-nose with the man. Or, at least as much as they could be despite their differing heights.

“Oh, hey.” Ray greeted casually, looking up at Ryan and trying not to let a blush creep up on his cheeks. He glanced over Ryan, took in his sleepy eyes and untamed hair, and Ray could barely contain himself. It wasn’t even close to being fair how gorgeous this man was, “Wh-what were you saying?”

Ryan rolled his eyes, “I was saying we have shit to do. We need to go to the store and buy all the stuff for the heist. I think we should assemble a list and figure out what stores we need to go to, and then work from there. I’m pretty sure I have a larger car we can take so we can have trunk space for all of our...,” he trailed off for a second, clearing his throat, “erm, groceries.”

Ray nodded, “Yeah, that sounds good. You want to do this now?” 

“Sounds fine by me. I’ll meet you downstairs. Grab any shit you think we’ll need,” Ryan said, grabbing his keys and starting out the door. 

Ray nodded in response, and as soon as Ryan was out of sight he changed into to some what clean clothes and followed Ryan out of the apartment.

Ryan was waiting by the worst car he had, a station wagon. But, it was the most spacious so he chose it anyways. He smiled at Ray, and felt his smile widen when Ray smiled back. “Ready to go?”

Ray nodded, humming slightly as he pulled open the handle of the car and stepped in, sitting himself in the passenger seat, “Where should we go first?” Ray started to use his fingers to count as he read out his list, “We need club clothing, a suit for you, a taser, zip ties, and ammo. I think that’s it.” 

“That sounds like everything,” Ryan said, absentmindedly as he turned the key in the ignition of the car. “You think we should go clothes shopping first?” It was less of a question and more of a ‘We’re going to do this anyways whether you like it or not,’ but Ryan phrased it as a question out of a courtesy that still felt necessary. 

“Eh, I guess we should probably get that out of the way.” Ray shrugged, tapping his fingers on his knee.

Ryan nodded, reversing from the parking spot and out of the garage. Once the car eased to a stop in front of the clothing store, Ryan turned the car off, “Ready?”

“Yeah yeah.” Ray stretched as he got out of the car, straightening out his hoodie. He started to walk towards the store, letting Ryan lead him in. As they entered, Ray took a look around, “Where do we even start?”

“You said we needed club outfits and I needed a suit. Do you wanna get club outfits first or should I go look at suits?” Ryan asked, giving Ray the option to choose. After all, the kid was the one more in charge of this heist than Ryan was.

“Okay, how about you go get a suit, and when you’re done with that, you can come join me to look for the other shit. Sound good?” Ray asked, already scanning the aisles.

“Alright,” Ryan said, before walking to another end of the store. He looked at the different styles before settling on an all-black ensemble. He noticed the four different pockets on the jacket and liked the fact that they would be handy in case he needed to carry some of the gear Ray had in mind for this mission.

Meanwhile, Ray was browsing the more casual clothes. He had already found a v-neck shirt he assumed would work, and even grabbed a smaller size to really sell this act. He figured for the pants he could just grab a tight pair of jeans, which didn’t take him long to find at all. After he had both articles in his possession, he waited for his partner. 

Ryan approached Ray with the suit held on a hanger in his hand, “What should I grab? You’re part of the younger generation, so I guess you know more than me.”

Ray snorted, “Sure thing, oldie. Just grab something tight and revealing. Shouldn’t be too hard.” Ray stepped up to one of the racks, scanning through them. “Oh, here we go.” He pulled out a simple grey button up and tossed it to Ryan before moving to a shelf of pants. “And let’s go with these.” He held out a pair of black skinny jeans to the older man. “That should work. Just, leave the top two buttons of the shirt undone and roll the sleeves to your elbows.” 

Ryan nodded. “Did you try yours on or are we just trusting that they’ll fit? I did try my suit and it was fine, but,” he said, his voice hinting at teasing, “I probably should make sure that this outfit is all you’re expecting it to be.”

Ray bit his lip, holding on to the clothes in his hands a bit tighter, “I didn’t try them on, but that might be a uh- good idea.”

“Okay, cool. I’ll go ahead and try mine on. If you want to try yours you can, but y’know. Up to you.” With that, Ryan turned and went into one of the changing rooms. A few minutes later, he came out, the shirt partially unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up just as Ray instructed. “Look alright?” he asked his friend.

Ray struggled to find words. As his eyes scanned over Ryan’s chest, torso, and dear lord- his arms, he could feel himself going flustered. How is it even possible for one man to be so attractive? A nearly inaudible, “Oh my God,” was whispered under his breath.

Ryan reached for the buttons on the front, “If it looks bad, you gotta tell me. I can try something else if you think so.” He paused for a second. “Or if this isn’t like...I dunno. If you aren’t getting the feel for it, I could do a bit of modelling. Show it off for you?” He was joking, but didn’t expect Ray to take it seriously.

“Yes, absolutely.” Ray was quick to respond, nodding encouragingly as he did so. 

Ryan bit at his lip for a second, taken by surprise. “O-okay. What do you want me to do?” When he’d done modelling before, he always had a direction. Someone to tell him he was ‘feeling this’ or ‘doing that.’ He didn’t expect to be put on the spot like this.

Ray felt like his heart was going to explode. He swallowed nervously. “Well, uh, these are your club clothes. Do- club stuff.” He was too distracted by the incredibly attractive man in front of him to even think straight, let alone talk. 

Ryan nodded slowly. How the hell do people act in clubs, anyways? It had been years since he’d been to one. He thought for a moment before reaching and grabbing Ray’s hand to pull him closer, and said, “Dance. Y’know, club atmosphere.” And there, the two stood there, dancing like idiots and pretending they were in a club.

Ray felt his skin burn at first, too shocked to say anything at the sudden closeness, but when he got to see a sneak peek of Ryan’s dancing skills he let out a laugh. “Nice.” He spoke, moving along to the imaginary beat playing in his head. 

Ryan did his best to dance along to the beat that he assumed Ray was thinking of (and dancing to) in his head, and found himself smiling and laughing with his friend. After the dancing died down, Ray backed off a bit, and Ryan looked at him again, “So, does the outfit work? Or should I try something else?”

With a soft smile, Ray looked back down to the clothes Ryan was wearing. He nodded, “You look really good in those, actually,” He stated, hoping it didn’t sound too weird. 

Ryan smiled at Ray, wider this time, “Good. I’ll get changed and we’ll buy them. Then, it’s off to our next errand!” Ryan changed quickly, before walking up to the register and paying for his clothes. He then waited for Ray to pay for his.

Ray did his business, thanking the person behind the counter before grabbing his back, keeping his pace with Ryan as the exited the store, “So! Clothes, check. That leaves the taser, ammo, and zip ties. Where to next?”

Ryan shrugged, getting into the car and turning on the ignition. As Ray got into the passenger seat, Ryan said, “That’s up to you.”

“Ugh, who’s idea was it for ME to be responsible for all this stuff. You’re the older one, I feel like this should be your thing. But I say we pick up the zip ties next. We could probably find that at like Walmart or Target or something.” Ray scratched his head, “Can you get a taser at Walmart?”

Ryan stopped at a light and turned to Ray, suddenly serious, “I’m making you in charge of this because it’s your idea. But I’m also making you in charge of this because you need to learn some responsibility. I can’t be the only one responsible for everything. What’ll you do if I’m not there?” He paused for a moment, the light turning green, which gave Ray time to think over what he’d said. “And as for the taser, nope. We’d have to go to a gun shop, probably.” 

Ray fell silent and turned to stare out of the window. He didn’t want to think about Ryan not being there, but the thought played out in his head. Talk about a buzzkill. 

Ryan drove silently to the gun shop. As the two were getting out, he said, “Listen, Ray. I--I didn’t mean it like that. I meant, like--well I did mean it like that, but don’t think that’s gonna happen soon. I just want you to be ready.”

“It’s fine. Whatever. Let’s just hurry up and do this.” Ray shook his head and closed the door behind him, now suddenly refusing to look at Ryan.

Ryan looked at his feet as they walked in, now realizing he’d agitated his friend with what he’d said. He let Ray do the talking as he stood near the door, thinking about what he’d said. No matter what, nothing he could say would make Ray stop acting the way he was.

Ray was quick when he told the guy behind the counter what he wanted, bullets for his gun, bullets for Ryan’s gun, and a taser. His answers were short when responding to the specifics to everything he needed. Ray got hasty when the guy asked for ID, I mean c’mon, he was definitely over 21. After he handed over the cash, he grabbed the bag of stuff and made sure he sounded sarcastic when saying his thanks before walking out, Ryan following him.

Ryan hopped into the car once again, and said, “Now to Walmart for zipties, right?”

“Yeah.” He returned to staring out his window, not bothering to engage in conversation.

Ryan nodded to no one in particular, and started driving to the Walmart. He tried talking to Ray again, “Buddy, if something’s the matter, you’ve gotta talk to me about it. I can’t easily change something that’s wrong without knowing the problem.”

“Dude, it’s fine.” Ray got the point, he had to be serious sometimes. It was easy to be irresponsible and that he’d need to gain some maturity. Whatever. He’d just wanted to drop it. “Should we buy other stuff? Or is it not suspicious for two guys to buy only zipties?” 

Ryan sighed out, knowing that he wasn’t going to get Ray to talk to him about this any time soon. But, he knew that he was going to make Ray talk when they got home; he didn’t drop stuff like this easily. “Uh, well I know a lot of people use zipties for electrical stuff...y’know, holding bundles of wires together. So we could buy some wire or some shit if you’re concerned about being suspicious. But I doubt Walmart employees really care. They don’t want to be there at all to begin with.”

“Fair enough, no reason to waste money if we don’t need to.” Ray leaned back in his seat a bit, trying to forget about the current situation for at least a little. He snuck a glance at Ryan for just a second, watching his concentration as he drove. 

Ryan pulled into a parking spot somewhat near the door, and turned off the engine. He waited a second after Ray got out before getting out himself, and followed Ray into the Walmart. He just let Ray lead him around, not really bothering to say anything.

Ray found them without much trouble, grabbing the plastic bag full of the black zip ties and nodding at Ryan. The two approached the checkout and paid for the ties, not provoking any suspicion whatsoever as Ryan had suggested. The process was quick and painless. As they went back to the car, Ray spoke up, “So, that’s the last of it. Now to home?”

Ryan nodded, turning on the ignition of the car and heading home. As they walked back into the apartment and Ray set the stuff they bought onto the counter, Ryan spoke, “We need to talk, Ray.”

Ray closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. He knew this was coming. He nodded and began to unpack the stuff, not making eye contact with Ryan. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”

Ryan watched Ray unpack the stuff and sat on one of the barstools in the kitchen, “We need to talk about what happened in the car today.”

Ray tried to keep his hands busy, “Do we really need to?”

Ryan took a deep breath and sighed, “Yes. Look at me Ray. We need to talk this out.”

“I don’t get why we have to. Can’t we just drop it?” Ray stopped taking things out of bags, but still didn’t turn to face Ryan. 

Ryan’s voice was monotone and serious, “Ray. Look at me.” He paused for a moment, giving him chance to as he said, “We can’t drop this. We’re in a friendship that requires communication, and if we don’t communicate, this is just going to fall apart.

It took a second for Ray to meet Ryan’s eyes. He felt guilty for some reason. “You’re right.” The words came out softly and he waited for Ryan to continue. 

“I said that I was letting you in charge because you need to be prepared if something happens to me. It’s not that I’m expecting to go any time soon, but you need to be ready in case that does happen. I’m just really trying to make sure that you can be sufficient if I did go,” Ryan told him. He watched Ray taking this information in, and waited for him to respond. Ryan didn’t know if he would take the information well.

“But I don’t want you to go.” Ray looked to the floor sheepishly and began to fiddle with his thumbs. “I don’t want to do any of this without you.”

Ryan nodded, “I know that. I know you don’t. I don’t want to go either, and I don’t want to do anything without you.” He swallowed hard for a second, realizing how deep his confession was. “As I said. I’m not planning in going any time soon, but I want you to be ready.”

Ray hated this. He hated having to be serious, he hated feeling as vulnerable as he did now. He hated how shaky his voice was, “I know.”

“You know that. You know that it’s important that you can take care of yourself.” Ryan continued, “Which reminds me, you need to do more than just be able to do heists and rob people on your own. At some point, I’m going to have to help you with paying rent and making food and stuff. And you need to remember to eat, because I think you’ve barely eaten in a few weeks.” Ryan kept rambling until he just trailed off into nothing with all the things he wanted to help Ray do.  
Ray kept quiet for Ryan’s speech, feeling his throat go dry and his skin burn. He only nodded, not quite finding the words to say. Ray wasn’t sure if he should apologize or promise to try harder or what. He settled for a slow nod as he began to play with the hem of his shirt, “Okay.”

“I just want to help you,” Ryan said quietly. “I don’t want you to get hurt because you don’t know what to do to take care of yourself.” Ryan could sense Ray’s nerves, and spoke a little louder, a little more firmly, but his voice still was sensitive. “I...don’t want you to feel nervous about this. I just want to make my point clear.” He was quiet for a second, “Is there anything...else you wanted to tell me?”

Ray wanted to tell him how much he needed Ryan in his life, how better his life had been once they’d moved in together. He wanted to say how he didn’t want to think about his life without Ryan because he couldn’t see his life without him. He wanted to say these things, but he just couldn’t fit these feelings into words. “No.”

Ryan eyed him for a second, trying to gauge if he was being truthful. He just let Ray go, “Okay. You know you can be honest with me, right, Ray? You can tell me anything.”

“I know, it’s just-” Ray reached to rub the back of his neck, still focusing on the floor, “I don’t know.”

Ryan nodded, “That’s okay that you don’t know. If you want to say something though, spit it out. You know as well as I do that I’m your best friend. I’m not gonna judge you.”

The confession was on the tip of his tongue, and for a split second, Ray considered letting it out. He even opened his mouth, as if ready for the words to pour out, but at the last second he decided against it. Decided that it was for another day. He gave a smile to Ryan, finally looking away from the floor, “I know. It’s okay, I’m good.”

Ryan wanted to believe that Ray didn’t have anything to say, but he’d been living with the younger for almost four years, so it was hard to give Ray the benefit of the doubt. But Ryan also knew he was uncomfortable talking about this, so he let it go for the time being with a warning, “Okay. If you do want to talk about something, you know where to find me. I’m not too hard to get to, considering I’m usually passed out on the couch.”

“Alrighty, Ry-Bread.” Ray turned back to the purchases of today, gathering the bags and throwing those away. He handed Ryan his new clothes, “These are yours, by the way.” 

Ryan nodded, taking the clothes and smiling at him, “Thanks, Ray.”

“Okay! So! We have everything we need. I’d say we’re all ready to go. I’ll go over our plan a couple more times to see if I missed anything, but I think we’re good.” Ray stared off for a couple seconds to see if there was anything he could come up with at the top of his head, but nothing came up. 

Ryan nodded again, “That sounds good. I think our--,” he stopped for a second, and corrected himself, “I think your plan is really good, Ray. Well thought out and stuff. I need to remember to have you plan some more of our robberies, because you’re pretty damn good at it.”

Ray bit his lip, Ryan’s praise making him feel warm. “Thanks Ryan. I just wanted to make sure you would be up for this. And because you’d kill me if something went wrong.”

The next few days had left Ray pondering over the plan, making the slightest adjustments, things that wouldn’t even matter in the long run. The day before the big heist, Ryan had convinced Ray to get some sleep, and that he would need to be well rested for this. It took some time, a job as big as this came with a lot of risks and kept Ray restless. But eventually he fell into a dreamless sleep for a couple hours. 

The day of the heist, at exactly four-thirty in the morning, Ryan was lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t help wondering if something was going to go horribly wrong in this heist. But, he shook these feelings away as he got up to grab a drink of water. As he sipped the water, he kept thinking and thinking. Ryan reminded himself he needed to at least sleep a little, so he put the glass in the sink and then flopped back on the couch, rolling over and pulling his jacket tighter around himself, catching a few hours of sleep before it was time to get up.


	4. I'm Sorry, Did You Say Rob a Bank?

Ray woke up early, emerging from his bedroom at around 7 in the morning. There was a nervous feeling bubbling up in his stomach knowing that in a couple hours, Ryan and him would be literally robbing a bank. He tried not to think about it so much as he started up the coffee maker, but it was proven futile.

Ryan was still sound asleep when Ray first got up, but stirred when he heard the younger turn on the coffee maker. In the midst of his bleary-eyed sleepiness, he mumbled, “Ray? Is’sat you? Are ya makin’ coffee?”

Ray looked up as he grabbed a mug from one of the cabinets, “Yeah dude it’s me. And yeah, you want some?” 

“Mmm, mhm,” Ryan said, rubbing his eyes and standing to stretch. With a groan and a couple pops in his back, he turned to Ray, combing his fingers through his hair, “How long’ve you been up?”

Ray took a second cup as he watched Ryan, “Uhh, not too long. Fifteen minutes maybe?” 

“Ahh,” Ryan said, wandering over to the kitchen and sitting on a barstool again. He rested his chin on his hand as he leaned on the counter, just watching Ray make coffee. He didn’t have anything to say, and was just fine in their comfortable silence.

As he waited for the decanter to fill up with the strong coffee, Ray looked over to the supplies. He had set out everything the two would need for the heist the night before, double checking it all. Ray let out a sigh, looking back to the coffee maker when it had spat out the final few drips. He poured the scolding caffeinated drinks into the mugs, adding the prefered amounts of cream and sugar. Ray carefully placed Ryan’s cup in front of him, smiling as he did so. 

“Thanks,” Ryan said absently, picking up the mug and taking a few sips of it. He just settled back into the silence of before, leaving Ray to do whatever.

Ray took his cup to the couch, getting himself lost in thought as he drank it. When he finished the cup, he finally spoke up, “Big day, huh?”

Ryan turned as Ray walked to the couch, and watched him, before nodding in reply to his answer, “Mmm, it will be. Not yet, at least. I’ve only had like, three sips of coffee.”

“I’m kind of nervous to be honest.” It felt strange to admit this. Other heists hardly worked his nerves up this much, but this was different. 

Ryan shrugged, “Nerves are expected...but don’t let them get to you. I’ve got your back. We’ve planned--,” he corrected, “You’ve planned this for a long time. I trust it...and you.”

Ray looked down into his empty cup, muttering quietly, “Things can still go wrong.” It was out of character for Ray to be the one worrying so much.

Ryan got up to go get Ray more coffee, but not before resting a hand comfortingly on the younger’s shoulder and saying, “You’ll be fine. We both will.” His voice was gentle and he’d hoped it would soothe Ray a bit as he walked back to the kitchen to fill the mugs again.

Ray nodded, reminding himself he wouldn’t have to do this alone. He had Ryan. “Thanks Ry.” He tried to push the unsettling feelings away, focusing more on the task at hand.

Ryan returned the mug to Ray and said, “You’ve got everything you need. We’ll be fine.” He was repeating himself, but he was just trying to help. “When are we going to start?”

“Mhm.” Ray hummed as Ryan handed him the cup, “Well the fifteen minutes when the second code for the vault will be down is at 1:15 to 1:30. We’re going to have to work between those time frames. I’m thinking I enter the bank at 1:08, I’m not sure how long the line is going to be or how long it’s going to take for me to get to the teller, but I think that seven minutes would be a good guess. So, I say we get ready around 12:00 and leave here around 12:30. How’s that sound?” Ray looked to Ryan for confirmation.

“Sounds perfect, Ray,” Ryan confirmed. Ray had thought through everything marvelously, and Ryan was more than proud of him. The pride was definitely evident in his tone, but he gave Ray a wide smile, his eyes sparkling, just to make his point that much clearer.

Ray smiled back just as wide, that warm feeling he got when Ryan complimented him spreading across his chest once again. He was happy Ryan felt so pleased with his ideas, it made Ray feel special. It took him a second to realize he was basking in the praise for a little too long as he stared at Ryan. He nodded slowly, “Good! Great. So, in the meantime… TV?”

“Only if we can marathon a shitty reality TV show for awhile,” Ryan said, a teasing glint in his eye. “You know that we both love making fun of the assholes on those.”

Ray broke out into excitement, folding his legs on the couch. He set the new cup of coffee on his lap, “Dude, that’s like my favorite thing. Maybe Keeping Up with the Kardashians is on.” 

Ryan plopped on the couch next to Ray, a little closer than he’d intended, “Sweet!” He reached to set his cup on the table and then reached for the clicker to turn on the TV. 

Ray smiled eagerly from Ryan to the television, “My favorite episode is the one where Kourtney got all worked up because she fell into the toilet after Scott didn’t put the lid down.”

Ryan snorted into his coffee before bursting into a laugh, “Oh god, I completely forgot about that one. That’s a classic. What about the one where Kim literally has a meltdown because she lost that one bracelet that went,” and he then put on a mocking falsetto, “‘Oh-So-Perfectly’ with her dress?”

“THAT ONE’S GREAT. But seriously how can we forget when Kourtney and Kim literally had a contest to see who’s junk smelled better?”

Ryan had to set down his mug because he was roaring with laughter now, “Oooooh my god. That one!” He couldn’t find the words to express his appreciation for the idiocy of the Kardashians, but even then he couldn’t stop laughing enough to try to even say the words anyways. 

Ray was laughing along, trying not to spill his coffee as he did so, “How they ended up being famous is beyond me, but it’s so entertaining.”

“They’re famous because they have money,” he said, sobering up from his laughter as he wiped under his eyes. “Oh god. I wish idiots weren’t famous.”

“I don’t know, I think it’s pretty great.” Ray couldn’t stop smiling. He admitted to himself he felt much better now, regardless of the events that would soon take place. 

Ryan flipped through channels before settling on just the show they were talking about. “Just our luck that we get to see some more quality Kardashian content.” He paused for a second. “Have we seen this one?”

“OH IS THAT THE ONE WHERE DOUCHEBAG SCOTT CALLS KOURTNEY FAT?! We haven’t seen that one, but God, Scott is such a prick.” Ray took a sip of his coffee as he read the episode description. 

“I think it is,” Ryan said absently, leaning back and drinking some more of the coffee since he’d exchanged the REMOTE for his mug. On cue, Scott’s voice rang out through the speakers of the TV, and he told Kourtney just how fat he thought she was. And Kourtney decided to get him well acquainted with the smoothie she’d been drinking by throwing it straight at him.

“AH GIRL YOU GET ‘EM. Scott needs to shut his mouth, she literally just had a baby.” Ray took another swig of his coffee, watching Kourtney shut herself in her room, completely in tears. 

Ryan frowned, “Poor thing. She must feel miserable now.” He turned to look at Ray, to see what he was thinking, his reaction, but Ray hadn’t said anything yet.

Ray was shaking his head in disgust, Scott was always a dick. “She deserves WAY better.” Maybe Ray got into the show a little more than he’d like to admit. 

Ryan hummed a response in agreement, still watching Ray, whose eyes were glued to the screen. Ray seemed to be pretty into it, and Ryan couldn’t help but look fondly at him.

Ray was searching the screen with intent, waiting to see if this was the day that Kourtney dumped Scott’s sorry ass. He took a final swig of his coffee before leaning forward and setting the empty mug on the table. 

Ryan gave Ray a small smile, even though he wasn’t looking at him, and turned back to the screen. Kourtney’s tears had subsided, and she stood up and walked out of her room. She looked confident, but she also looked really really pissed. She walked up to Scott and began yelling. Ray was leaning forward even more, excitement etched onto his face, and Ryan couldn’t stop grinning that the younger was so into the life of the Kardashians.

“YES KOURTNEY! TEAR HIM A NEW ONE!” Ray was getting very passionate about the show, nodding his head along with the drama. He looked over to Ryan, “Dude he’s about to get it.”

Ryan nodded to his friend, grinning still, and turned back to the TV to hear Kourtney say, “You SUCK, Scott! You’re literally, the WORST!”  
Ryan couldn’t stop himself from saying, “What an insult from Kourtney!”

Ray smiled wide at Ryan. They lived very interesting and dangerous lives, but these moments were Ray’s favorites. The one’s where Ray could marathon a shitty TV show with his best friend and laugh together. 

The two watched the Kardashians for a while, which snowballed into a marathon of the Real Housewives. As a final episode wrapped, Ray glanced at his watch more and more as it rapidly approached 12. The nervous feeling in his stomach bubbled up again, “So, uh, we should probably start getting ready.”

Ryan looked over, seeing Ray check his watch, “Oh! Yeah. I’ll go get dressed and meetcha out here.” With that, he left and went on his way to get dressed.

Ray nodded, and watched Ryan depart. As soon as he was out of sight, Ray took a deep breath.   
“Okay.” He spoke out loud to himself. He disappeared into his room, going for the clothes he had laid out on the dresser ready to go. It didn’t take long to get changed into the club clothes before tossing the regular ones over top of those. After getting dressed, he went to the kitchen where he had laid out all of the supplies the night before. Ray did a last minute double check before sticking most of the supplies into the bookbag he’d be carrying. He loaded his gun, making sure the safety was on before putting that a top the other supplies. The things Ryan would be strictly using were left on the other side of the counter. 

Ryan walked out, buttoning the cuffs on his dress shirt with the jacket slung over one of his arms as he walked into the room, looking up at Ray assembling their supplies, “Relax. Don’t obsess over it.”

Ray stopped a bit in his tracks as he saw Ryan dressed so nicely, “Sorry- what’d you say?”

“I was just saying that you don’t need to obsess over it. You’ve thought this plan thoroughly through, no need to worry too much,” Ryan responded, assuming Ray was checking to see if the clothes looked right, not actually checking him out like he hoped he would be.

As Ray finally pulled his gaze away from Ryan’s chest and back up to his eyes, he spoke, “Says you.” He pointed to Ryan’s materials. “That’s all your stuff.”

Ryan rolled his eyes at Ray’s comment, but walked closer to the goods on the counter, “Ah, okay.” He put the gun in a safe place before gathering everything else into the briefcase. “Ready?”

Ray took another deep breath, looking up at Ryan expressionlessly. “Yeah.” 

Ryan offered Ray a smile and walked with him downstairs. They hopped into a sports car and Ryan drove down to the bank, easing the car to a stop in a parking zone on the side of the road. He glanced over at the parking meter, a slight bit of his Georgian morals coming through, until he realized that he just didn’t care anymore. There were more important things to worry about than a ticket he wouldn’t pay for illegal parking. Once the car was stopped, he killed the engine and turned to Ray, “What time is it now?”

“Uh,” Ray shifted in his seat and moved his arm to look at his watch, “12:46.” 

Ryan looked back at him, wide eyed and a little confused. His voice was slow as he spoke, “We have...like a half hour, Ray.”

Ray threw his hands in the air, “Well! I didn’t know how bad traffic was gonna be!”

Ryan chuckled, but let Ray off, “It’s fine. We both know traffic here can be shitty sometimes.” He trailed off for a second, catching Ray’s eyes again as he said, “So, what do we do to occupy the time?” He leaned back and finally took the key from the ignition, shoving it into his pocket to give himself something to do.

Ray readjusted the backpack that rested between his shaking legs, “I don’t know dude, but I’m nervous as fuck.”

Ryan put a hand on Ray’s knee, aiming to be reassuring, “We’ve got this. Just relax. Being nervous makes you sloppy.” It sounded cruel, but it was the truth. “And besides, as I’ve said, I’ve got your back. Something goes wrong? I’ve got’cha.” Ryan’s voice was gentle and honest, sincerity in every word.’

Looking down to the hand Ryan had on his knee, Ray could now add flustered to the list of emotions he was feeling. Ryan made him feel better, honestly, but his heart only pounded faster. “Promise?” Ray asked, looking up to Ryan anxiously. 

“Of course I promise, Ray. Always.” Even such a small word meant a lot between the two of them, and Ryan’s blue eyes locked onto Ray’s brown ones made the words that much more heartfelt. 

Ray couldn’t look away from Ryan as he latched on to each of the words that left Ryan’s mouth. So many emotions were overwhelming the younger at the moment that he had needed Ryan. There was no way he could have been able to pull this off on his own. Everything was just so nerve wracking and here Ryan was making it all better and goddamnit- Ray doesn’t think he’s been in love with someone this much his whole life. It all happened so fast, Ray leaning across the center console, reaching up to put his hand on Ryan’s face, pushing their lips together, he couldn’t have stopped himself if he wanted to. His heart was racing and the adrenaline was coursing through his body and maybe he wasn’t thinking straight but he had to let all of this out somewhere.

Ryan was surprised by Ray’s actions, but not at all upset by it. He kissed back just as excited, just as happy, just as totally in love as Ray, and savored the feeling of their lips together. After a few moments, Ryan pulled away for air, looking at Ray intently.

Ray froze, the only thing moving was his chest as he searched for air. He didn’t move his body back to his side of the car as he searched Ryan’s face for any emotion. He panicked internally for a second, waiting for Ryan’s reaction. He half expected Ryan to just up and get out of the car, leaving him there all by himself, but he didn’t. 

Ryan opened his mouth, finally breaking the silence, “How long have you been waiting to do that?”

Ray swallowed nervously, opening his mouth to speak carefully but honestly, “A long time.”

Ryan looks down at the leather of the console for a second, thinking about what Ray said. Three words can mean a lot, and this was one of those examples. “I...I’m glad you did.” Ryan admitted, “I really am. I...really like you, Ray. I care about you, too.”

Biting his lip, Ray nodded. He searched for words to say, but decided he’d already shown everything he could have ever needed to say in his actions. He continued to search Ryan’s blue eyes, waiting for his next move. 

Ryan knew that Ray was at a loss for words. But that was okay, because Ryan knew their mouths could do more than talk and say infinitely more than the words uttered by them. Ryan just leaned forward again, pressing his lips to Ray’s, and letting instinct take over.

Closing his eyes, Ray let his lips move against Ryan’s. This kiss was much more softer, much more sweet than the first one.He ached for Ryan’s touch. Ray placed his hand on Ryan’s chest and shifted forward, trying to get as close as he could with the console in the way. 

Ryan desperately wanted to be closer to Ray, and did everything in his power to make it so. He tangled his fingers into the shorter hairs at the base of Ray’s neck and they kissed for a long time. Eventually, they needed to breathe again, and pulled away with a satisfying smack.

Ray found himself addicted to the feeling of Ryan’s kiss. He was definitely uncomfortable, leaning over the console left his body in an odd position, but he still wanted more. After Ryan had pulled away, Ray had pulled his legs up onto his seat as his hands reached for the seat behind Ryan. His moved his body over the console, positioning himself so that he was straddling Ryan, each leg on either side of him. He gave a faint smile, happy with the new position that left them as close as Ray had wanted them to be, before leaning down to kiss him again. 

Ryan smiled into the kiss at Ray’s new position, his arms finding a natural grip around Ray’s waist, still so amazed and so in love with the man in front of him. How did he get so lucky? They kissed for what felt like hours upon hours, and Ryan thought he’d die of oxygen deprivation when Ray leaned back a little bit too far, hitting into the car horn and startling them both from their kiss. Ryan realized that they had a schedule then, snapped back to reality, and said, breathless, “What time is it?”

Ray panicked again for a second, worried that he’d thrown them off schedule. He sighed to himself as he translated the hands on his watch, “1:04. I should be walking into that building in four minutes.” Ray felt another anxious bubble in his stomach, but it felt good. He was about to rob a bank. “You should walk in about a minute after I do.”

Ryan nodded, “Okay. As soon as you leave, I’ll give you a few minutes and then come in, alright?” As Ray was getting out, Ryan pulled him close for one quick kiss and a smile, before saying, “Good luck,” and watching the younger walk towards the bank.

Fiddling with the straps of his bag, Ray approached the building carefully. He tried to time it so that he entered the building right on time, and attempted to not look as nervous as he felt. As he pulled open the doors of the bank, he took everything in. It looked exactly how it did when he’d scoped out the place earlier in the week. Ray nodded at the guard as he passed him, hoping not to look suspicious. He took his place in line, counting three people being helped by a teller and two in the line ahead of him. It could have easily been worse. The three tellers were there, as accounted for. He couldn’t see into the assistant manager’s office, but he assumed the bank manager and the two security guards were in there. To his luck, no one was stationed at the drive through. So far, so good. He stood in line, waiting for his turn. Waiting for Ryan. Waiting. 

The door opened behind Ray, and there was Ryan, walking confidently in with his briefcase, walking further into the bank. He walked up and stood behind Ray, leaning his weight to one leg as he looked around at the marbled walls of the bank. What a shame there’d be blood and bullets in it soon.

Ray felt a sense of relief as he heard Ryan step up behind him. He went along with the plan, pretending not to know him, only giving him a short glance. Ray watched as the person on the left finished up whatever he was doing, thanking the teller and leaving. The person in front of the line stepped up, leaving only one person ahead of Ray. 

He was sweating as he tried not to shake. This was absolutely terrifying, but he pushed all that aside as he went over the next few steps in his head. The person working with the teller on the right departed not long after, and Ray was up next. He shifted nervously on his feet, picking at a loose thread on his t-shirt. This was all so exhilarating for him.

The person working with the middle teller finished next, much to Ray’s convenience. He was slightly worried one of the other customers would leave first, which would have made it awkward to approach the second teller. 

“I can help the next person!” The woman had smiled at him as Ray approached her, “What can I help you with?”

Showtime. 

Ray did his best to give her a charming smile, looking down to make sure her hands were above her desk and not about to hit the alarm. “Well, I was wondering if you could step away from your desk. I have a gun and if you even think about hitting the panic button I will shoot you.” He said the speech he had practiced so many times in his head with a calming voice, and finished up with a smile. Ray watched as his words processed in the teller’s mind, her face expressing her shock. She took a step away from her desk, raising her hands in the air slowly. She nodded as if to tell him she understood. Ray shot a glance back to Ryan, who was already on his way to take care of the security guard.

Ryan walked towards the guard and pulled the taser from one of his pockets and tasing him. The man falls to the floor and Ryan sighs as if it’s a chore as he leans down to pick up the weapons from the man’s body. He then turns to Ray, who was already continuing on with the heist according to plan. He waited for the keywords before continuing.

“Alright, you three,” Ray started, dropping his back to the floor and pulling out his gun, “away from the desks, come around this side.” Ray watched them as they shuffled to follow his directions. It was obvious they were making their movements slow to not alarm Ray or make it look like they were going to try anything, “Hurry the fuck up! I don’t have all day! Goddamn, okay, everyone down on their knees,” He pointed his gun towards one of the two customers, a smaller woman, probably in her mid twenties, “Except for you.”

She had a look of terror in her eyes as she froze, looking like a deer in headlights. Ray rolled his eyes, “Take this one as a hostage.” He spoke to Ryan, monitoring the rest of the people and making sure they weren’t trying anything shifty. 

Ryan nodded, grabbing the woman’s wrist and twisting it behind her back. “We’re going to go towards the door and lock it. Walk forward. If you try anything funny, I will not hesitate to shoot.” The woman walked, and even as Ryan let go of her wrist she still kept her arm tight behind her. She was obedient and waited by the door as Ryan locked it up. He then instructed her to walk back towards the center, and she did. Ryan then grabbed her and held her close against himself as per normal hostage situations, and waited for the assistant manager to exit the office.

When the assistant manager decided to pop out and noticed what was happening, two guards appeared under the manager’s direction and aimed to go after Ryan and the hostage. Ryan was calm and collected as he said, “Drop your weapons.” When they kept approaching, Ryan continued, “Better yet, slide your weapons over here or I’ll shoot her,” he gestured to the hostage by placing the barrel of his gun against her temple, “and then the both of you. Take your pick.”

Ray watched carefully. He thought back to the day dream he had of this moment that had gone oh so wrong, and he waited for the guards’ next move. They shared glances, and Ray thought for just a split second one was going to try and make the shot. But neither did, they reached for their guns, slowly, pulling them from their holsters and setting them carefully on the ground. They took turns sliding the guns to Ryan, and Ray let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. 

“Good.” Ray spoke, he waved his gun in the general direction of the lounge, “Now, I want everyone in the employee’s lounge. And please, don’t do anything stupid, I’d hate to have to become a murderer tonight. But don’t think that would stop me from shooting one of you.” Ray observed them all as the group got up, purposely not making any sudden movements. He spoke to Ryan, tossing him the bag of zip ties, “You start working on getting them tied up, I’ll take care of the drive thru.”

“Gotcha,” he said, letting the hostage go, but ordering her to go into the lounge with everyone else. Even still she kept her arm behind her back the way Ryan had instructed her at first, and walked into the employee’s lounge. Ryan set to work, putting zip ties around their wrists and ankles, tight enough so they couldn’t escape, but loose enough that it wasn’t painful. He kept an eye on everyone, but no one dared to move under his threat of killing them if they did.

Ray looked out the drive thru window, making sure no cars were pulling up. He shut the window, knowing not to do it too tight as this was their escape route. He grabbed the ‘closed’ sign out from his bookbag and the Scotch tape quickly putting that in the window. Nodding at his work, he quickly went into the employee lounge to help Ryan with tying up the hostages. “How are we doing?” Ray asked as he entered the room. 

Ryan shrugged, “Everyone’s pretty much done now after I finish up this gentleman.” He gestured to the man in front of him, before jerking his head back behind him where the woman who had been his hostage was tied up, “You made an excellent choice in hostage.” Realizing how dumb this sounded, he shook his head and chuckled, before meeting Ray’s eyes as he stood, “Next part?”

“I don’t think we should waste our time doing a sweep of the top and bottom floors. I came up with a better idea.” Ray pointed his gun at the head of one the tellers, “Is there anyone else in the building?”

She was crying pretty hard, mascara was streaked down her face. She shook her head in between sobs. 

Ray got closer to her face, turning the safety off on his gun, “Are you lying to me?”   
“N-no!” She choked out, more tears streaming down her face.

“Good.” He looking back to Ryan, shrugging, “I think that should be good, yeah?” 

Ryan nodded slowly, “Better than wasting our time, definitely.”

“Alright, sweet.” He searched the crowd of hostages for the manager, walking up to her. She seemed much calmer and more collected than anyone in the room. Ray directed the barrel of the gun towards her, “I think you know what happens next.”

“Let’s be honest, you’re not going to do shit.” Ray internally groaned to himself as he realized that the manager just had to be the one that was difficult. 

“Just give me the fucking code.” Ray spat hastily 

“Or what?” She shook a few strands of hair from her face. 

“Or I shoot you. This would be a lot less complicated if you would just give us the code.” 

Realizing this wasn’t going to go anywhere, she rolled her eyes. Rude. “It’s 3248.”

“See, wasn’t so hard, was it? Thank you.” He looked to his watch, which read 1:16, then to Ryan, “Alright, let’s go. We’ve got fourteen minutes until the renovation time is up and we need the second code again.”

Ryan nodded and led Ray in the direction of the vault. When they got there, Ryan walked to the keypad and flipped it open, looking at the number keys for a moment before typing in 3-4-2-8.

“Alright!” Ray looked down to his watch, ready to time how long they’d be in the vault. He knew if they were in there for more than three minutes the state manager would be informed. “Okay, in and out, grab as much as you can!”

“Got it,” Ryan said in response, walking in and shoving money into his briefcase and pockets, fishing around for another place to put some more of the cash. “How’s our time?” he asked.

Ray had went straight for the big bills, filling his bookbag to the brim. He took a second to glance at his watch, as he ripped open a second pocket, “We’ve got 58 seconds.”

Ryan continued shoving money into any pockets and places he could, before turning to Ray, “We should probably get going, right?”

Ray, happy with the amount of money they’ve collected, struggled to zip his bookbag. He threw it back over his shoulders and starting for the exit. “Yeah, let’s go. The last thing we need is the cops on our trail-” As if on cue, Ray picked up on the faint whining sound of a police siren. He threw a look of panic at Ryan, suddenly having a spring in his step. “Alright we have to go, now.”

Ryan nodded quickly, heading out of the vault and straight for the drive thru, making a bee-line for the window. He shoved it open quickly, hearing the rip of the sign Ray had made but not caring. He jumped out, hearing Ray jump behind him as he shucked off his jacket and ran towards the car. “C’mon, c’mon,” he said, urging the car to unlock as he smashed down the unlock button on the key fob. He heard the sweet sound of the car unlocking and practically threw himself inside, chucking his jacket and the briefcase into the back and slamming on the gas as soon as Ray shut his door.

“Go, go!” Ray spoke, knowing that Ryan was going to go as fast as he could anyway. His heart was pounding in his chest along and his whole body was shaking. “Fuck, Ryan! We just robbed a fucking bank!” He gave a small breathless laugh at the success, “We just robbed a bank.” 

Ryan grinned from behind the wheel, but didn’t take his eyes off the road to look at Ray, “I know! Holy shit.” He took a sharp turn into a side street and watched as two cop cars smashed into each other in his rearview mirror. His speedometer was pushing 80 when he was in the side street, and he came out the other side with two cars still chasing after him. He kept looping and swerving, even going backwards on one of the same streets to confuse them. Finally, he lost the cops and then followed the route (with directions given by Ray) to Scandals. With a screech, Ryan stopped the car and finished pulling off the rest of the clothes he was wearing before turning to Ray for instructions.

Ray was smiling wide, he felt on top of the world. Like nothing could stop him, the two had just robbed a bank, and gotten away with it. He popped open the door of the car, pulling off his shirt to reveal the tighter v-neck he wore underneath before discarding it on the floor without a care. “C’mon Ryan, let’s go,”

Ryan followed Ray towards the club, offering an ID to the bouncer before entering into the dark and thumping building. Inside was a large dance floor with quite a few people dancing in close proximity. On the sides were tables and a bar. Ryan leaned close to Ray’s ear and said, “Where should we go?”

Ray gripped the front of Ryan’s shirt, pulling himself closer to him, “Does it really matter?” 

Ryan couldn’t help a smirk and an eyebrow raise, “I suppose not, but we are still wanted by the law.” He said the last part in a lower tone, hoping no one would overhear.

“Oh, I see what you’re doing. Wanna get me away from people and to a secluded area. So we can be- all alone.” He pulled away a bit so he could see Ryan’s face before sending him a mischievous smile and a wink. 

Ryan rolled his eyes, but pulled Ray closer to him again to kiss him. He pulled away and said, “You thirsty? We could get something to drink if you’d like.”

Ray looked up at Ryan with a flirtatious grin, “Sure, I’ll have a tall glass of you~” 

Ryan chuckled and smiled at Ray, “Sweet of you to say.” He stopped for a moment, looking around, then shrugging, “What do you wanna do then, since we have all the time in the world waiting for our wanted levels to go away?”

“Oh, I have a couple of ideas.” Ray bit his lip, holding on to Ryan’s sides and pulling him closer, “Goddamn, you look so good in this outfit.”

“What did you have in mind?” Ryan asked, eyes dark but twinkling with interest.

\-----------

Ray stacked the bills neatly only the coffee table, “Ryan, we’re only 50 grand away from 2 MILLION dollars. We’re fucking rich! This is amazing. I’m going to buy a car. And maybe a license.” 

Ryan chuckled, “Well, you’d have to learn how to drive first, bigshot. Don’t get too big for your britches.”

“Did you actually just say britches? How old ARE you, dude?”

“That has nothing to do with my age, it has to do with the fact that I,” he paused, putting on a mock accent, “am from the South.”

Ray laughed, mimicking Ryan’s accent, “With this cash, we could buy you a big fancy house back in the South, just like the good ole’ days.” 

Ryan couldn’t stop his genuine laugh from bubbling out, and he just kept laughing, unable to find any words. When he settled, he spoke, “I don’t really need a house in the South, but I’d love a house with you.”

Ray smiled, looking at Ryan, but Ryan didn’t say anything else, “Wait, y-you’re serious?”

“Serious,” Ryan said, smiling, but there was genuineness in his eyes. “I’d love it. We’re already living together, so getting a house just seems like the next step, right?”

Ray nodded, kind of shocked. He leaned over and gave Ryan another kiss, “Gosh, I love you. Let’s do it.”


End file.
